Falcons to hit the road for NCAA tourney

For the Fitchburg State men's basketball team, that's what this week amounts to.

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Fresh off three straight road victories to secure the program's first Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament crown, the Falcons have barely had time to get comfortable in their home environment before getting the call to pack their bags for a long road trip.

Not that a single member of the team is complaining.

Having clinched an NCAA Division 3 tournament berth with the MASCAC title, Fitchburg State found out Monday afternoon its opponent in the 62-team field.

SENTINEL & ENTERPRISE / BRETT CRAWFORD
From left, Fitchburg State University President Robert Antonucci, men's basketball head coach Derek Shell andFSU players react as the team is announced during a live feed by NCAA.com and put onto the bracket for the 2013 NCAA Division 3 tournament Monday.

And that opponent turned out to be the University of Rochester (NY), which brings with it a road trip the likes of which the Falcons have not seen this season.

The team, athletic director Sue Lauder and FSU president Robert V. Antonucci watched the announcement of the seedings on a large projection screen in a conference room in the school's administration building. As its pairing was announced, the team erupted in applause.

"To be able to (watch the announcement) here like some of the bigger schools do, it was a great idea," FSU head coach Derek Shell said.

With the seeding, FSU will face a road trip of around six hours for Saturday's tilt to face a 21-4 Yellow Jackets team -- a squad coming off back-to-back losses.

"I think we can turn our white uniforms in. I don't think we'll be wearing the any time soon," Shell joked. "But we've been road warriors, especially in the last week, and I don't think it's something that will be something that phases us at all."

While in the coming days the team will look to prepare for the game, Shell said the team had Monday off to enjoy what it had accomplished.

"Just to be here is a blessing," FSU senior and former Fitchburg High star Jeremy Kimber said. I've been in Fitchburg since I was two years old and to have something like this happen right before I graduate, it's a blessing. I couldn't ask for a better group of guys to go with. I'm just trying to soak it in.

But just because the team is happy to make the tournament, don't think for a second that it's content to just show up and bow out without a fight.

"We know we can make some noise," senior capatin Tom Henneberry said. "We've got a talented team and we're on a hot streak right now. Not a lot of people know about Fitchburg State, but they're not going to want to play us after this."

"We're a hard team to beat," Kimber added. "We're used to (being on the road). We're the road warriors."

The Falcons will return to practice today and Shell is hoping to get a handle on what they'll be facing when they head to the southern coast of Lake Ontario.

"We'll try to get some requests out for film and put together a game plan so we can go forward," he said.

The pairing with Rochester came as a bit of a surprise to the Falcons. It had been speculated by analysts and the team that its opponent could potentially be just a short jaunt down Interstate 190 at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Fitchburg State fell to WPI -- the sixth-ranked team in the country -- by three points earlier in the season.

"We were hoping we'd get WPI, (a team) ranked in the top 10 in the country," Henneberry said. "We let them off the hook with a buzzer beater (earlier this season), but we know we have a great opportunity right now."

The Falcons (16-10) hope the run doesn't end with a single game in the D3 tournament, but know that they've made history with this season already.

"The MASCAC championship and all the history associated with it can't be taken away, regardless of what happens going forward,' Shell said. "We're just really excited about the opportunity (to play in the tournament)."

And for one Falcon, heading to Rochester is a trip home. Athletic director Sue Lauder is a native of the city and coincidentally, her birthday falls on Saturday.

"It will be nice to see my family and have my family there cheering for Fitchburg," Lauder said. "And I coached in (the Louis A. Alexander Palestra, Rochester's gym) in the 1980s. It's kind of like going home for me. And if we're going to be in the tournament, I want to go some place, so I think this is great."

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